Pieces of a chess game [Sherlock x Harry Potter Crossover] [COMPLETE]

Chapter 2: The ephemeral bliss

Despite the dark, threatening clouds looming over the buildings, the windows and curtains of 221 were wide open that Saturday. When Hermione's cab pulled up in front Speedy's, she could hear the sound of 90's rock music and a hoover coming from somewhere in the house. She had barely left the car when the door opened, and Mrs Hudson appeared wearing a flowery apron and bright pink rubber gloves, surrounded by a cloud of toxic fumes that smelled of carpet cleaner and bleach. Behind her, in the small hall, there were several stacked boxes.

"Good afternoon, dear! We were tidying up," she said beaming at Hermione.

"Good afternoon, Mrs Hudson," answered Hermione while picking up a suitcase from the boot of the cab and placing it on the doorstep. "You shouldn't have; I could have helped."

"Nonsense," Martha turned around and shouted into the hall. "John! Hermione is here!"

John appeared shortly after, with a mop hanging from his trousers and a box which he left on top of one of the stacks. "Is that all you have?" he said, eyeing the few belongings that Hermione had brought, scattered over the sidewalk. "Books?"

Hermione gestured toward the two large suitcases. "I have clothes too! And some shoes."

John shook his head, smiling. "Let's get all this stuff in." Without waiting for an answer, John hoisted up the biggest suitcase and went back upstairs. Hermione began to move her boxes into the corridor, being careful to put them far away from others. Mrs Hudson watched her and closed the door behind her.

"We were going to move them to the basement. Nobody uses it," she muttered as she wiped one box with a cloth. "We've been putting things away for days. Newspapers, documents..."

Hermione stepped forward, but Mrs Hudson had already slipped away into the kitchen, muffling a cry. The boiling kettle and the music being turned up covered any other sound.

John glanced around when he returned to continue carrying things upstairs. "Where's Mrs Hudson?"

"Making tea," Hermione replied, grabbing a box of her own and following him upstairs. With the clutter gone, the living room seemed larger, brighter, and not so dreary anymore. There were empty spaces on the shelf, and the tables were clear. The red carpet she had not noticed the first time around was visible and clean, and the air did not smell damp and dusty. John or Mrs Hudson had decoratively and strategically placed some deep green succulents about the place; although the skull remained in plain sight, with its bullet holes and yellow grin intact.

John broke her concentration when he said "Figured you'd need some space."

"That is very kind of you John, thank you,"

Hermione began to empty the boxes while John made the last trip downstairs. Book after book, she placed them on top of one of the tables based on their authors' and subjects' categories. As usually happened when she was surrounded by books, she lost herself in them until John cleared his throat to get her attention from the book in her hand.

"I looked for your name online," he commented.

She responded with a laugh while putting away another book onto one of her stacks before asking "Anything interesting?"

"'Magic and myths during Norman England' came up a lot," He replied.

"Oh, that? That's nothing" In an absolute stroke of genius from Anthea – Mycroft's right-hand woman - she had built an online track record for Hermione Black. There was an unused Facebook profile, a few abstracts from conferences that never happened, and a few books she had published with the most insipid names they could think of. No one, unless they knew what they were looking for, would know that the information was fabricated. Hermione sincerely doubted hacking was within John's skills, and hoped he wouldn't be interested in any of the so-called books.